Martial Peak
chapter-4957

“I am only doing my duty. I don’t dare to take credit!” Yang Kai said humbly.

Compared to his allies fighting on the front lines, it could be said that he was extremely safe inside Blue Sky Pass. Everybody else was doing their part in the fight against the Black Ink Clan. Some people had even died for this cause. In comparison, his ability to purify and dispel Black Ink Strength had been given to him by the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer. It was not even his own ability, so how could he dare to take credit for it?

Zhong Liang nodded, “It’s good if you can think that way, but it does not change the fact that you have contributed greatly. Work should be rewarded, that is the rule here. The battle outside the great pass is fierce, so it is inconvenient for me to stay here for long. If you need anything, just let Feng Ying know. She will cooperate with you.”

“Yes!” Yang Kai responded.

After watching Zhong Liang and the two rescued Black Ink Disciples leave, Yang Kai sat down cross-legged and examined his Small Universe. He had been mulling over a problem recently, how was he going to find an opportunity to break through to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm? Unable to fight on the front lines, he could only remain at his position in the Central Square and passively wait for somebody to ask him for help; therefore, he had a lot of free time on his hands for idle thoughts.

Now that his cultivation could be said to have reached the peak of the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm, further efforts to refine resources would have little effect on him; furthermore, he had been raising a large number of Humans and Small Stone Race inside his Small Universe. To add to that, the time in his Small Universe flowed several times faster than the outside world. As things stood, he didn’t even need to cultivate for the heritage of his Small Universe to grow stronger with every passing moment.

Therefore, he currently suffered from a faint bloated feeling. That was naturally because his heritage had exceeded the limit that his current cultivation could store. Like how one would feel bloated after eating too much food; his capacity as a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master made it difficult for him to accommodate so much power. If he wanted to resolve this issue, then his best choice was to advance into the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm.

Unfortunately, he had already gone into retreat when he was in Black Territory in an attempt to advance into the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm. His attempt had turned out to be ineffective, and there was no progress in regards to a breakthrough. Since entering retreat once had proven to be ineffective, it would likely be futile to enter retreat again. The faint traces of opportunity could not be obtained from secluded cultivation.

In order to advance into the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, the Proprietress had spent over 100 years in retreat in Void Land. That showed just how difficult it was for an Open Heaven Realm Master to advance from the Sixth Order to the Seventh Order; after all, it was a significant leap from the Mid-Rank Open Heaven Realm to the High-Rank Open Heaven Realm.

Throughout time immemorial, countless heroes had failed to overcome this obstacle and remained stuck in the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm for their entire lives. It would be very difficult for them to reach the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm in that state.

In order to resolve the situation in his Small Universe, Yang Kai had been using his heritage to cultivate more Profound Yin Bamboo in his Small Universe. He had no other choice. The heritage of his Small Universe constantly became stronger and stronger, but he had no means of breaking through to the next Order. If he did not use up some of his heritage, his Small Universe would become painfully bloated. Consequently, the Profound Yin Bamboo thrived in his Small Universe and grew wildly in numbers.

Since he had one of the Four Universe Pillars, the World Spring, the Profound Yin Bamboo was of little use to him. Be that as it may, the Profound Yin Bamboo would be useful to the Human Masters in Blue Sky Pass. It would never hurt for him to cultivate more of them.

He had given a small batch of them to Feng Ying. Although he only gave her a dozen or so bamboo shoots in total, she was absolutely overjoyed. It stood to reason that she understood the power of the Twelve Minor Universe Pillars; after all, there were quite a few High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters among the Human Race who possessed one of them. It was just that the Profound Yin Bamboo had not appeared before.

The other eleven types of the Twelve Minor Universe Pillars were different from the Profound Yin Bamboo in that they could not be cultivated in large numbers, much less shared with others. While the effects of the various Twelve Minor Pillars were relatively similar, the Profound Yin Bamboo was undoubtedly the most useful in a situation like the Black Ink Battlefield. That was because the Profound Yin Bamboo could multiply continuously. If the conditions permitted, every single High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Master would be able to cultivate a bamboo forest in their Small Universe in the future.

The Cave Heavens and Paradises had poured great efforts into searching for the Profound Yin Bamboo in the past, but their efforts had never been fruitful.

Feng Ying never expected that Yang Kai would possess the Profound Yin Bamboo. In this way, as long as enough time passed, all the High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters in Blue Sky Pass would be blessed with their very own Profound Yin Bamboo. The Profound Yin Bamboo was highly effective at boosting their resistance towards the Black Ink Strength, which would be of great help in the war effort.

Unfortunately, the battle was raging fiercely at the moment, so it was not the appropriate time to bring up the matter of the Profound Yin Bamboo. Hence, Feng Ying suggested that Yang Kai inform the Eighth-Order Ancestors about this matter after the current war had ended, a suggestion he readily agreed to.

When he inquired about her advancement into the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, Feng Ying recalled her memories for some time before she responded, “I was fighting the Black Ink Clan on the battlefield at the time. When my life was hanging by a thread, I felt a sudden enlightenment come to me. Thankfully, I survived that battle, and upon my return to the Inner Sanctum, I swiftly went into retreat and broke through to the Seventh Order.”

Yang Kai nodded lightly. Most people would experience great terror when faced with death, but their minds would also become clear when faced with such a threat and it would often be easier to comprehend things that had remained unclear to them previously. He himself had also broken through his shackles when he was faced with death, so he did not doubt her answer. Besides, she had no reason to deceive him.

The next few days passed by as usual. Yang Kai was stationed at the Central Square of Blue Sky Pass, and countless people came to him for treatment. Under Purifying Light, the Black Ink Strength in their bodies was reduced to nothing.

During this period, there were also some Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters who came to him for help. After treating them, he would question them about the situation surrounding their advancement into the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm. These Seventh-Order Masters were quite open about their experiences. He had saved their lives, and what he asked was not a secret either, so there was no need for them to conceal anything. On top of that, they were desperate to form a connection with Yang Kai, so it was only natural for them to answer his questions to the best of their abilities.

Everybody experienced different things when they advanced into the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, but these experiences could generally be divided into three types. For the first type, their advancement just came naturally. Many of them eventually experienced the opportunity to breakthrough after they had accumulated enough heritage. The second type achieved their advancement through voluntary retreat and broke through to the next Order while they were in seclusion. Lastly, the third type experienced similar situations as Feng Ying. In fact, there were quite a few who gained valuable insight when wandering the border of life and death.

Yang Kai had already gone into retreat once, so going into retreat again would probably be futile. With his aptitude, he believed that his advancement was simply a matter of course if he continued to accumulate experience. The main reason he could not realise the opportunity for a breakthrough was that his cultivation time had been too short.

Most cultivators would spend hundreds or even thousands of years for their cultivation to improve until they reached the Open Heaven Realm, regardless of how great their talent and aptitude was. Furthermore, after advancing into the Open Heaven Realm, each advancement to the next Order would require an even longer period of accumulation. The higher the Order, the longer they would need to cultivate for.

Under normal circumstances, advancing from the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm to the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm would require thousands of years’ worth of accumulation. It would take even longer to advance from the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm. Accordingly, it might even take tens of thousands of years to advance from the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm!

Not much time had passed since Yang Kai started cultivating. There was no need to mention the time before he advanced into the Open Heaven Realm, it was enough just to look at the amount of time he spent after advancing into the Open Heaven Realm to reach his current achievements.

Back when he was in the Shattered Heaven, Yang Kai had been forced to cut off his future prospects and advance into the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm in front of everybody outside the Shadowless Cave Heaven. Afterwards, he entered Shadowless Cave Heaven and consumed a Mid-Rank World Fruit, which allowed him to smoothly advance to the Sixth Order. There was no time for him to accumulate at all during this brief period.

Furthermore, only a few hundred years had passed since he advanced into the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm. He only managed to obtain his achievements by relying on various opportunities. The time he spent on accumulation was extremely short.

Although cultivating steadily was not a huge issue, nobody could say for certain how many years it would take before he gained insight on the fleeting opportunity for a breakthrough.

That was most likely the main reason why Yang Kai had not been able to comprehend the opportunity for advancement after so long. Even if the heritage of his Small Universe was saturated to the extent where he felt bloated, he would not be able to advance to the Seventh Order smoothly in his current condition.

After understanding this point, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling troubled. The passage of time was not something that could be accelerated after all.

Now that he was on the Black Ink Battlefield, his thirst for strength had grown far stronger than when he was in the 3,000 Worlds. On this chaotic battlefield, he could only ensure his safety by having enough strength to protect himself; otherwise, he would not have been so desperate to advance to the Seventh Order. It was not a bad thing to cultivate calmly and steadily after all.

Unfortunately, this place was not the 3,000 Worlds, where peace and stability could be found almost everywhere. Yang Kai had seen the situation where the Black Ink Clan army besieged Blue Sky Pass. Zhong Liang had assigned a post for him here so that his life would never be endangered; but, could he really hide in this place for the rest of his life without taking another step outside?

This was not the life he wanted. If he were honest, during the time he spent here, Yang Kai was practically raring to go after listening to the commotion from the fighting and explosions coming from the outside every single day. Unfortunately, he had no choice but to remain in this place because he had the means to dispel and purify Black Ink Strength.

He did not regret exposing his ability. Since he had the means to help, it was impossible for him to stand by and watch as his allies got corrupted by Black Ink Strength without doing anything. He was honestly thankful that he could rescue the allies who were corrupted by it.

It was just that… As a man, he looked forward to fighting the Black Ink Clan! On a battlefield where he could die at any time, he might even be able to perceive the opportunity to advance to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm.

The more he thought about it, the more restless he became. He was tempted to rush into the battlefield and experience the battle with his own body. Be that as it may, it was not easy for him to leave this place. If he were to leave this place, there was nobody else who could save those who were corrupted by Black Ink Strength. Since he had the ability, and it was unique to him, he had to take the bigger picture into account.

In life, it was impossible to satisfy the desires of all parties.

Those corroded by Black Ink Strength continued to be escorted here by their companions to seek treatment, so Yang Kai was busy every day. One day though, he was helping two people who came to him for help in dispelling the Black Ink Strength in their bodies when he suddenly stared at the long-lasting white light and fell into deep thought.

The two, who had Black Ink Strength removed from their bodies, checked their condition and thanked him profusely after confirming that there were no issues with the treatment. However, his response was absent-minded and he continued to stare fixedly at the white light in front of him.

Upon seeing that, they quickly understood that he had discovered something and did not disturb him any longer. Thus, they quickly left with their companions after saying their goodbyes.

Once those people had departed, Feng Ying glanced at the white light; then, she glanced at Yang Kai in curiosity and puzzlement.

She had watched this treatment countless times by now. The same thing happened every time he finished treating the Black Ink Disciples, but she had never seen any reaction from Yang Kai before; hence, she could only wonder why he seemed to have discovered something new this time. It was just that she did not know much about Purifying Light, so she could not ask much.

As time passed, Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly brightened and a trace of excitement and elation also appeared on his face.

Feng Ying couldn’t stop herself from asking him, “Did you discover something?”